“Procrastination is the art of keeping up to yesterday.” ~Don Marquis
Beating procrastination, creating new habits, or changing the way you do things is hard. It’s often said it takes 3 weeks of persistently doing something for it to become a habit.
How do you create change that’s going to last? For many, it’s not so easy as just following Nike’s famous slogan: Just Do It. If it were that easy, we’d all be doing the things we know are good for us–right?
“If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it.” ~Olin Miller
In early July this year, my hard drive on my computer crashed. I was really ticked because my computer was only one and a half years old. So, I made the decision to get a Mac hoping it would last longer.
Unfortunately, my learning curve wasn’t as simple as I had imagined and only last week did I start to feel like I had everything needed to get my job done. Things like my blog got left undone for far too long. Was procrastination rearing its ugly head?
I have to admit that during this time, writing my weekly blog kept getting bumped down my to do list. It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy writing it because I do, but my best laid plans just never seemed to come to fruition. The saying, “Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow” (Gerald Vaughan) became an irritating motto.
So what helped me move past it and move on? How did I stop procrastination from growing horns and becoming an evil monster? Well I can tell you absolutely that beating myself up about it didn’t work. Nor did fear tactics—“if you don’t do this you’re going to wreck all the hard work you’ve done” and other such nonsense. What worked was…inspiration. What better to write about than the thing that had been growing over the last few weeks and by doing so, would begin its demise?
I got excited about writing about procrastination and how to create change. I found that the more I thought about it, the more the inspiration came. I just started doing it. Maybe there really is something to that Nike slogan…
Sorry but there’s no one way to create change. And what may work for you may not work for someone else. There are some ideas, however, that I’ve written about on change and goals in the past. See:
For some, getting some life skills coaching can help. For others, getting really sick and tired of something is helpful. You may find it helps to create a plan, set your mind to it, or find some inspiration. Knowing you as you do, what helps you get out of the starting gate?
Here’s a suggestion: Over the next week or two, do something different—no matter how crazy or off the wall it seems. Have fun!! Let me know what you come up with!!
I’m a Registered Psychologist who works with adults and children to help them do what works, both in counselling and coaching. If you’d like to book an appointment or inquire about my services, please e-mail me at reneemeggs@focusedsolutionscounselling.com and/or go to my website at https://reneemeggs.com. I can meet with you in person, on the phone (403-762-3040), or on-line.
